Renovation reveals vintage Utica Club beer

I put a call out recently for found object stories. Rose Redwood, the library system’s bibliographic records manager, just e-mailed me this one:

Library student Anne Millard took this photo of the evidence.

Our Albany campus library is going through some major renovations. We are completely remodeling the building to put in office spaces on the third floor, and putting in a cafe on the first floor.

Anyway, our library director came back with a can of beer (1 of a six pack that the construction crew found) that was lodged in the ceiling of the “new” addition to the library that was constructed in 1965.

The beer can is in pretty good shape, despite its age. I suppose it’s a vintage can of beer, having twice as much aluminum to it compared to today’s cans of beer. It’s called Utica Club pilsner lager beer.

I am not a beer drinker myself, so I wouldn’t know if it’s still available locally. Who knows the story behind the beer cans. Perhaps the workers put them there as a time capsule, or they just forgot when they finished the job?

There was a Utica Club beer drinking song from the 1960′s and made famous by Johnny Cash. Also, I checked on eBay and they’re selling them for $30 a can. Do you think we could get money for our renovation project? This is too funny.

My husband and I toured the Utica Club Brewery just this past summer in Utica. They are still making Utica Club and also Seranac amoung other beers and soda and would probably be very interested in seeing the cans – possible for the musuem part of the tour they have.

That song is so funny… I can just see guys in white slacks and matching turtleneck sweaters singing and swaying like the Smother’s Brothers. In the song they mentioned “Utica Club… it’s here to stay…” Yeah, if you wedge it between some two by fours and throw sheet rock over it. As I was listening to it my husband asked if I needed some headphones… that’s his nice way of saying you can turn that off at anytime.

in 1965 the can would have been more tin than aluminum, and probably didn’t even have a pull tab. It would have needed two punctures (one for air)in the top to open and drink. The absence of rust is quite remarkable.

What the heck is a “Pilsener Lager?” Is that like a “Stout Ale?” Sounds like a blended whiskey. yuck.
No wonder I’ve never found UC beer to be drinkable.

The cans would probably be pulltab rather than have punch holes, though I cannot tell for sure from the photos. In general, the cans predating pulltabs (which debuted on Iron City beer in about 1962) are more valuable, but these cans may be of great interest to someone who collects full beer cans. I suggest the finder contact the Beer Can Collectors of America. They should have an easily findable Web site and might be able to direct you to a place where they can find a home.

The group apparently changed its name from Beer Can Collectors of America a few years back…sorry about that.

As to the cans being where they are, it is not unusual to find old, old cans inside the walls and ceilings of buildings. Back in the day, some construction workers apparently were not shy about knocking back a few on the job or during lunch and then throwing the empties between the walls. Some great finds of extremely rare cans have been made when buildings put up or worked on between the late ’30s and ’60s are demolished.

The brewery was called the West End Brewery, and it is still family owned and going strong The Saranack line heads their list of products, but UC continues its place as a popular beer we love to hate. Both can be found all over the north east and FL.

A local boy that still enjoys a UC on tap after 50 years living here.

ps Another popular ad of the 50s ––– dit-dit-dah / dah-dit-dah-dit Morse code for UC

My Father-In-Law was a head electrician at the brewery until he retired a while ago and always has UC in the fridge and used to have a keg in an old fridge in the backyard screened in porch. Not bad cold but my wife got me Saranac Irish Stout, brewed at the same place, for Valentine’s Day which is a much better beer. We stopped by the brewery and the tap room for photos when we were married in Utica and had quite a few brewski’s from the taps there-Saranac for me! They also provide the free beer at the well known Boilermaker road race in Utica, which I ran a couple of times. BTW, our Golden Retriever is named Dooley in honor…

FYI, Pilsener Lager is the most popular beer style in the United States. Pilseners are a type of Lager, which denotes the type of yeast used to ferment the wort. Pilsener Lager may be a bit redundant, but it my no means indicates that Utica Club is in any way unusual.